During the 54th Annual Grammy Awards Weekend, The Recording Academy sponsored the 3rd annual Social Media Rock Stars Summit at L.A. Live’s Conga Room. Moderated by Topspin Media CEO Ian Rogers, the panel featured Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher, GetGlue CEO Alex Iskold, Turntable.fm Chairman Seth Goldstein, and Spotify’s first artist in residence D.A. Wallach. The group discussed ways both artists and record labels alike are now having to make money utilizing social media tools to engage consumers. Debates ranged from artist issues such as royalty payouts, YouTube and copyright laws, how to use social media tools to engage fans, and digital packaging to “business oriented” issues like adhering to consumer demands of wanting music every where, advertising revenue, subscription revenue, and digital start up competition. The tone of the debate was optimistic. Towards the end Rogers went on to said he thinks more people will be buying music in the future and that we’re (society) is moving away from this uncomfortable adolescence in digital music.
-Angeli Kakade
